Water Efficient Products

Water Efficient Products

Many factors come into play when you start thinking about buying a product – cost, style, performance, quality. Saving water and saving on your water bills (or resulting energy bills for hot water) can be a deciding factor in determining the type of product you buy.

If you’re about to buy a water-using product find out first how WELS water efficiency ratings can save you money and help the environment. It’s simple – the more stars on the water rating label, the less water that product will use, and the more money you will save.

Water Efficient Products

Water is something we need every day in our lives. It’s also a valuable resource that we should never waste. Avoiding waste means being aware of how we use water and taking advantage of water-efficient appliances and fixtures.

You can take action to use water wisely at home whether you’re renting, buying, selling, building or renovating. The decisions you make could affect your water usage for many years to come.

What is water efficiency ?

Water efficiency in the home means using less water to provide the same level of service or to get the same result.

Water efficiency can be achieved by using improved technology, for example, water-efficient appliances like washing machines and dishwashers. Water-efficient models will get your clothes and dishes just as clean—they’ll just use less water doing it. Fixtures which allow us to use less water to get a job done effectively are also known as being water efficient, for example, water-efficient showerheads, taps and toilets.

If you use less water that’s been heated, you’ll be saving energy as well as water.

Choosing more efficient products helps Australia save water…

Water rating labels help you choose water-efficient products, conserving Australia’s water supply and reducing your bills.

What is WELS?

WELS is Australia’s water efficiency labelling scheme that requires certain products to be registered and labelled with their water efficiency in accordance with the standard set under the national Water Efficiency Labelling and Standards Act 2005.

What are the WELS products?

The water-using WELS products are:

Plumbing products

• showers
• tap equipment
• flow controllers

Sanitary ware

• toilet (lavatory) equipment
• urinal equipment

White goods

• clothes washing machines
• dishwashers

Minimum water efficiency standard also applies to toilets and washing machines. This means you cannot supply toilets that have a higher flow rate than 5.5 litres per average flush volume, and washing machines that are less than 3 stars for a machine 5kg or more capacity, or less than 2.5 stars for a machine less than 5kg capacity.

Waterless urinals are not currently included under WELS.

The WELS scheme excludes second-hand products and products imported into Australia for personal use.

What is Watermark ?

WaterMark™ is a product quality certification mark provided by independent certifying authorities. It confirms the product complies with the Plumbing Code of Australia and the relevant Australian Standards, which relate to product quality, including health and safety, and warrant that it is fit for purpose.

WaterMark™ certification is mandatory for products to be legally installed in accordance with state and territory plumbing regulations. Products required to be certified are listed in the Plumbing Code of Australia and AS3500.000.

From 1 November 2011 WaterMark™ certification became a mandatory prerequisite for WELS registration of:

• showers
• lavatory and urinal equipment
• tap equipment and
• flow controllers*

intended for use in the reticulated water system.

*Evidence of current WaterMark™ certification for flow controllers fitted in WELS products is also required. You can provide either a WaterMark™certificate that lists the flow controller individually or a WaterMark™ certificate that specifies the flow controller as part of the product that is being registered.